The present invention relates to a specimen holder for microscopes in which a generally rectangular specimen slide is clamped with its front side held by spring force against fixed stops. Specimen holders of the indicated type, in use to the present time, comprise a crescent-shaped resilient lever which is pivotally mounted to the table of the microscope, at a corner of the specimen slide; the lever is movable over a surface of the slide and presses the opposite surface of the slide against fixed stops on the specimen holder. Such specimen holders are illustratively described in West German published aplication (Offenlegungsschrift) No. 2,218,156 and in West German petty patent (Gebrauchsmuster) No. 3,103,057.
Such simple specimen holders can also securely hold objects of different dimensions, but they have the disadvantage that the user must retract the lever with one hand when changing specimens, while his other hand manipulates the specimen slide. The fact that both hands must be used when changing the specimen constitutes a disadvantage for the user, particularly in work which requires frequent change of specimen slides. Since standardized specimen slides are generally used, the aforementioned advantage of the known specimen holder, namely, the possibility of holding objects of different dimensions, cannot always be utilized.
West German published application (Offenlegungsschrift) No. 2,946,544 (FIG. 3), describes a specimen holer for standard objects which permits one-hand operation when changing objects. It consists of a drawer-shaped receiver which, upon insertion, presses an inserted specimen slide against a lower edge of the specimen holder. This specimen holder necessarily conceals edge regions of the surface of the specimen slide.